Ten ideas and improvements for the start of the football-watching season. In case those potato chips are getting a little stale.

The Hot Dog: Vienna Beef

The Hot Dog: Vienna Beef

It won't be as good as the one you can get at Hot Doug's, where the line wraps around the block for specials like the foie gras-encased duck sausage, but for a home-cooked wiener, you can't do better than Vienna Beef, the brand by which all Chicago hot-dog lovers have sworn for over a century. Unlike some of its competitors, it actually tastes like beef, and it has a pleasing snap all its own. Load it up in a poppy-seed bun with tomato slices, onions, pickles, hot peppers, and mustard (no ketchup allowed) — more a meal than a snack, the way Bears fans like it. You can skip the neon-green relish, though. That stuff just looks weird. —Paul Schrodt

The Chips: Xochitl

The Chips: Xochitl

Nothing against Tostitos or anything, but these corn chips are in a league of their own. They're super-thin and crispy, with an incredible corn flavor — the perfect vehicle for the salsa awesomeness on the next slide. —Elizabeth Gunnison